Greening the Community / Adopt a Tree

As part of the ‘Greening the Community’ empowerment pilot project in the Eastern Cape, aimed at helping the 121 800 community members of Nobuhle improve their environment, CCFA is launching an exciting ‘Planting a Better Future’ campaign in the township.

Adopt-a-tree campaign is the first in a series of initiatives to green the environment, inspired by the Indalo Nursery operating from the local Mantis Collection property at the Hopewell Conservation Estate. The vision is to raise funds to plant 600 trees at schools, churches and safe spaces within the neighbouring Nobuhle township over the next 12 months. That’s only 50 trees per month and we hope to reach our goal long before the year is up!

Your tree

When you Adopt-a-tree online and pay the R300 ‘adoption fee’ you are not only making a difference to our planet but if you are one of the first 350 supporters you will receive a free craft beer or gin voucher from Bridge Street Brewery. As well as an opportunity to win one of our superb monthly prizes of 3 Couple’s Safari Weekends at one of the Mantis properties.

ADOPT-A-TREE NOW

Corporates

We are challenging corporates to adopt a cluster of trees (10) through our 10X Greener Campaign. Corporates who adopt 10 trees for R3000, will be placed in a corporate lucky draw for an outstanding Mantis Collection staff incentive of luxury couple experience. Corporates who purchase three clusters or more (30 plus trees) will receive use of Bridge Street Brewery’s Tap Room Venue, free of charge, pending availability, valued at R3000.

CLICK HERE FOR 10 TREES PLEASE

Algoa FM is partnering with CCFA on this exciting pilot project and will help inspire listeners – individuals, corporates and the active environment-focussed lifestyle community – to plant trees for a better future. Algoa FM launched the corporate challenge with a 35 tree sponsorship, as part of its 35-year celebration.

FIND OUT MORE HERE

On September 24, Heritage Day, as a final push in support of the greening project, Steven Lancaster, well-known local extreme athlete, embarked on a mammoth challenge to complete a 8849m gruelling run … his own Mount Everest.

He chose one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s green lungs, Brickmakers Kloof Road, in Baakens Valley, to reach his Mount Everest target. It took 141 summits of 700m to accomplish the task but he planed to push through to 165 summits, or a height of 10 000m and he made it!

This long-term environmental sustainability initiative is about empowering local communities to drive environmental awareness and change.

Funding partners will contribute towards:

The alleviation of poverty
Assisting with personal and social transformation
Changing and uplifting communities
Creating a sustainable future

While helping to offset carbon emissions

What types of Trees will be planted?

Spekboom

for Oxygen

Fruit Trees

for Food

Hardwood Trees

For Shade

Education

20 students will be enrolled in the Siyazenzela Life Skills and Employability Course. The course focuses on indigenous horticulture, plant handling, traditional medicine and general conservation and awareness.

Sustainable outcomes

Poverty reduction
Hunger reduction
Responsible consumption
Climate action
Protecting and restoring the land

CCFA invites you to plant a better future.

Scan the QR code
to purchase a tree

Click here to purchase a tree

find out more here

Community Borehole Project – Namibia

Water for the community – Borehole construction

Borehole project: Kasika Conservancy, Zambezi region, Namibia

CCFA is pleased to have supported this community conservation initiative to provide safe and convenient access to water as well as assisting communities in their efforts to grow crops for subsistence farming (with a focus on fish and mielies), to feed their families and perhaps in the future create a living that extends further than the grant system.

Donate here

After the successful completion of the first borehole in November 2020 in the Maliyazwa Village, CCFA wishes to provide further communities with four more much-needed boreholes. The additional boreholes will be piped to at least 8 strategically positioned outlets in order to allow for even distribution within the community, serving at least 400 people. The nearest river is a great distance away from the community and the presence of wild animals such as hippo and crocodiles in the river and on the river banks, makes collecting water there a life threatening task. Many community members have already lost their lives over trying to access this water source.

Donate here

First borehole construction completed, November 2020

Mr Libuku’s village (Maliyazwa) is home to a community of approximately 40 people, who are now able to access water safely, thanks to the recent construction of a borehole in their village. This is a pure luxury for the community who had previously resorted to descending 10 metres into a collapsed water well to collect water to fulfil their basic needs for survival. Standing on the collapsed edges of the well to access water was a life threatening feat in that there were no reinforcements surrounding the structure. The water table had dropped due to drought conditions, hence the need to descend at least 10 metres below ground level.

The recent borehole construction at Libuku Village has provided the many elderly people, as well as those in poor health living there, with easier access to water. The act of collecting water from a well and walking far distances to a water source, was not available to these physically challenged community members. Now, water points are located closer to the homestead and the borehole has been fitted with a sediment filter (a bidden wrapped around the intake pipe) to keep larger debris out of the water.

Beekeeping / Adopt a Hive

Bees are tiny little miracles of nature – they not only pollinate our flowers but are largely responsible for our crops and food. It is estimated that a third of the food we consume relies predominantly on pollination by bees …

But these little heroes are under threat.

Across the world there has been a growing concern about the decline in the bee population, mainly due to intensive farming, loss of habitat, improper use of pesticides and climate change.

Across the world there has been a growing concern about the decline in the bee population, mainly due to intensive farming, loss of habitat, improper use of pesticides and climate change.

The CCFA team has been hard at work to help prevent the decline in the bee population. In 2019, we relocated 120 new beehives onto three Mantis properties in the Eastern Cape: Hopewell Conservation Estate, Founders’ Lodge and Intle Boutique Hotel. With an average of 50 000 to 75 000 bees per hive, this has created a habitat for around 9 million bees. The project has also created much needed skills development and employment, plus the honey is sold at Mantis properties and Spar retail outlets in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).

In partnership with Honeybee Heroes, CCFA is helping to conserve South Africa’s unique Capensis honeybee species while educating South Africans about the importance of buying local, cruelty-free produce. The Adopt-a-Hive’ project offers all guests at Mantis lodges and resorts worldwide the opportunity to directly help honeybees without the challenges that come with operating their own beehives.

In celebration of World Bee Day, CCFA is extending its bee project to the Western Cape by installing 70 adoptable beehives at two sites: on Willowdale Farm in Stanford (the home of the Honeybee Heroes), and at Hazendal, a Mantis property located in Stellenbosch.

For an investment of £100 (R2 000)
you can adopt a honeybee hive and,
in return, besides being a bee hero, you receive:

A personalised plaque on
your beehive (this can either be for yourself, a partner, business or a gift for someone special)

Hive progress updates

Contribute towards the long term goal of sustainability of the bee population and community development, through the creation of micro-apiaries

An official adoption certificate

A Beekeeping Experience
(*T&Cs apply)

Click below to Adopt a Hive

Adopt a BEEHive here

Future project goals

include setting up 1 000 micro-apiaries all over South Africa, donating hives, bee-suits and basic tools to rural South Africans in need, in order to empower them to start up their own businesses.

Once installed, the hives and bees will belong to the community with the honey produced sold back to Honeybee Heroes and CCFA, then through Mantis properties and local businesses. This will provide additional jobs and income for the local community.

Creating a fully-equipped education centre at Mantis’ Founders Lodge, where guests can participate in a hands-on beekeeping experience with professional beekeepers
Offering an eco-tourism experience in the form of a 3-hour interactive beekeeping experience at Willowdale Farm

Placing mini beehives at reservations desks and in guest’s rooms, to showcase the complex beehive colony, along with a QR code for additional information about the Adopt-A-Hive project
Introducing ‘honey-infused’ menu items, using raw honey sourced from the hives
An installation of large-scale bee related artworks

Help Protect Our Honeybees,
They Play A Critical Role In Our Ecosystem.
If Our Bees Die, So Could We … No Bees, No Food.
It Is That Simple!

click here to adopt-a-Hive

click here to donate to this project